Home with the Christmas tree

We've made it all the way down to sunny south Florida! There's no snow. In fact, it's a heavenly 75 degrees. But there is a Christmas tree! Ella loves it.

I also had a moment with the Christmas tree. We only put up a tiny artificial one that we hardly decorated this year because we were going out of town and Ella is SO INTO EVERYTHING! I was just watching the tree and remembering being a little girl and feeling like it was just so special and magical to sit and watch the beautiful lights in the dark. My sister caught me sitting on the couch crying because, in my own words, "I'm just so happy to be home with the Christmas tree!" Soon I was laughing and crying my head off with my sis, one of my favorite things to do, because of her response. "I'm sure the Christmas tree is really glad to have you home too." What a silly lady I am sometimes! Of course, it's great to see my family too. : )

We've been enjoying old Disney Christmas sing along records from when I was little, making gingerbreadmen, playing blocks with Granddaddy and watching all the doggies run around. It's great to be home, and also fantastic that soon we'll be able to share  some time with the other set of grandparents too!

We'll probably be too busy to post the next week or so, but have a merry merry merry Christmas everybody!

Snuggie

Last night we went to a white elephant party. I came home with a Snuggie. I love it.

Did I just put a picture of me in a snuggie on the internet?

Hope you enjoy! If you don't make too much fun of me, I'll let you try it out when you come over next time! It's seriously blanket heaven. (Except smells kind of like playdough . . . wierd).

The queen of everything

 The queen of everything, perched on her throne:

Lucie interjects, "Ummm, excuse me, whose throne?"

I stand corrected. : )

Whack a mole

So, I mentioned that Ella has no need to walk. Let me show you her preferred manner of travel.

Notice she winds up by the window? It snowed this morning! Yay. If it's going to be the tundra, it could at least snow, as far as I'm concerned. 

Today I was in the living room and had just got her comfortable with some blocks when I heard the rapid slap, slap, slap, of her little hands whacking the floor accompanied by panting as she crawls so fast she gets out of breath. She was headed for the kitchen, but by the time I got there, she had rounded to corner again and was going down the hall. It seems she had decided to do some laps. Before she could finish her loop, she was finally distracted by our dvd collection which someone had put away and which needed to be spread on the floor again. I tell ya. I can barely keep up with her these days. Last night at dinner she was rescued from Lucie's water bowl only to go straight for the old batteries in the bottom of the pantry, and then the open and dirty dishwasher. I am in a constant game of whack a mole. Here are some photos of her caught in the dilemma of how to both play with Daddy's antique radio and the Christmas tree at the same time:

It is exciting to see her so enthusiastically exploring though, she is so proud of herself, and what can I say, so am I!

Walking practice

Ella has got standing down to a science. She can even squat down and stand up repeatedly without losing her balance. But she doesn't seem to feel a need to walk. So yesterday Paul, ever the athlete, decided to give her a little coaching. As the video illustrates, I think we need to focus on team motivation and morale.

Awkward Awesome Family Photos

We took Christmas pictures today! Like fancy ones in a studio in front of a Christmas tree background. I felt like we were such an established family. I was the Mom, Paul was the Dad, and Ella was the Baby. Does that just sound stupid? Do you know what I mean? Anyway. I'm sure this will live to haunt us, it's a little cheesy. (Have you guys seen the Awkward Family Photos blog? It's hilarious.) But we really enjoyed it.

Without further ado:

I know, I know, I shouldn't have owned up to the pull-down background and maybe I could have passed this off for our cozy living room. Ours looks basically the same though (if you use your imagination, add in a tree and lots of presents and subtract the scattered shoes, toys, and mail).

 Thanks cousin Anna for passing on the pretty Christmas dress and bow!

Cock a doodle doo!

Ella is really starting to enjoy reading books. We have one about animals and the noises they make, which is a favorite. Today when I was reading it to her, she started imitating the cock a doodle doo! It was hilarious. I thought it was surely a fluke, but later she found yet another animal noise book we have and I pointed out the rooster with sound effects again. Sure enough . . . let me let you experience it for yourself. (Sorry the video cuts off at the end, battery died, but you get the idea.)

Does this mean her first word was cock a doodle doo?

Baby it's cold outside

Yesterday our amazing husband and beloved Dada turned 30! We had a nice quiet day befitting the change from being a wild 20-something to being an old, old 30-something. We had a nice dinner out (5:30 reservation, yes!). Then we watched the Daily Show on the couch and I fell asleep and would not move until Paul stole my blanket and made me go upstairs. It was all in love. : ) But here are some shots from dinner at the Angus Barn. The first one is more what it looked like, warm low lighting and cozy wood paneling and stuff. Also cake! Yum! (For those of you who know about Paul's problem with cake, it was a pound cake which is way more edible to him than the standard birthday cake cake.)

However, in this one, thank you flash, you can see our shiny happy birthday faces. Except Ella. But don't worry, there's more of her below.

In order to make our early reservation, I picked Paul up from work yesterday so he wouldn't have to come home first. We (especially the pint sized family member) were really tired after dinner and didn't go pick up his car, so he was going to ride his bike to work today. Except its FREEEEZING outside. So, I had to drop him off this morning. But I was supposed to take Ella to an 8:30 doctors appointment. 8:30! What was I thinking making it at that time? Anyway, we missed the appointment. But we still had a playdate at 9:30 dangerously close to the mall. It was actually in the mall at that cool playplace. I decided to exchange a sweater at Old Navy, but somehow wound up in the baby section. And Ella and I had our first shared fashion experience. It was sublime. : ) I was looking at these cute little baby dresses, which looked very warm (did I mention it's freezing here?). Ella was looking sort of vaguely at them until she saw a particular one. And she smiled. I showed her others, but she would only smile at this one, and preferred to look at it when shown two as well. (I am quite the baby behavioralist, I know. ) She chose it, not me. And what can I say, she has great style! It looks so cute on her! Please ignore the slobber on the bib. We still have some pretty serious drooling issues.

Of course it doesn't hurt that she is bout the cutest little thing I've ever seen. : ) And that is our report for today so far.

In Memory

My grandmother passed away a few days before Thanksgiving. We were away at her funeral last weekend. She lived a long and beautiful life with a radiant personality that never faded even as her health and her memory did. I'm so thankful for every sweet memory of such a lovely lady.

Favorite instrument

So last night, Mama was irresponsible and left one of these cool shakers on the kitchen floor. To be fair, Mama wasn't the one who put it there, but you know, I'll take the blame. When Dada came home, he stepped on it and it sounded horribly like it broke. But it didn't. But we decided these particular shakers should probably be off limits. They aren't officially baby toys you know. I put them away and didn't think anything of it until I turned around from the computer to find Ella like this:

 

Here she is making her case for how cool these things are and why she should be allowed to play with them:

 She convinced me. So I made the case to Paul and he said ok too. Score one for Ella! : ) This will just be another excellent opportunity to work on our understanding of the meaning of "gentle, gentle." (And, "pick up your toys.")